Tattered Storybooks
by love-fool
Summary: It was a gamble she didn’t want to take. She didn’t want to roll that pair of dice and get snake eyes. So she just walked away from the table without looking back. One Shot


Disclaimer: I don't own Degrassi. I own an Eisley and Counting Crows CD which are in stores now.

A/N: Er, I don't know why I wrote this. Strange bursts of strange inspiration often come to you at ten o'clock or so in the morning. So, sit back and enjoy and tell me whether you enjoyed this or it made you throw a brickthrough awindow. Unless of course, you throw bricks througha window on a regular basis. On that note, reviews are love and this is rated K+ for the mentioning of something icky brought to you by James Tiberius Yorke. This also has spoilers for a ton of episodes not shown in the US. You have been warned.

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She was a hopeless romantic by nature. It was something she couldn't exactly control. Every time she promised herself she wouldn't fall, she fell harder onto the pavement and got scrapes. Eventually, those scrapes turned into scars and would remind her of each time she fell a little too hard. Surely, none of them had promised her the world in the past. Her frosting filled fairy tale visions of romance were always the hands that pushed her down as her so-called prince charming stomped on her heart. However, there had been one who had promised her the world. Unfortunately, he never exactly lived up to her expectations.

After last year's ordeal with the infamous triangle that was now practically school legend. It had become the same kind of legend that was in the fine print in the handbooks for incoming students. Of course, Craig Manning wasn't ever exactly prince charming. Even though he kept repetitively hurting her, she kept going back to him like a drug addict to their dealer. It just sort of happened. She could never explain or predict what would happen between them. The book of the story that was Craig and Manny seemed to be closed for the moment after he explained that all last year was happened to be a lot of pain. That barely even scratched the surface of their long and winding tale that could be stretched out down a highway. The tale of JT and Manny was rather short lived. After you've been hurt, it's natural to run to something you've always known for comfort. He was a security blanket she wrapped herself up in and fell asleep in at night. A child eventually grows apart from their childhood object of security or finds them in their bedroom with a penis pump. Then inevitably, the book of Liberty and JT had been cracked open and the two lived happily ever after. Manny didn't exactly mind because she had her own fairy tale prince that promised never to break her heart.

He never exactly broke her heart. He just destroyed everything else in his path that wasn't her heart. The list of the things broken by Spinner Mason was as long as the years he had lived on the planet. Those things consisted of but weren't limited to his grandma's vase, a bunch of Kendra's Barbie dolls, Jimmy Brooks, Rick Murray, and an entire school left in shambles after a tragedy. He had never broken her because he had promised he wouldn't. However, in front of her eyes was the potential that Spinner Mason had that he was probably completely oblivious to. Deep down, she knew he had never meant to inflict the damage that he did. But what if in the future, he never meant to break her heart? What if he just did by complete accident? It was a gamble she didn't want to take. She didn't want to roll that pair of dice and get snake eyes. So she just walked away from the table without looking back. She just walked away and left Spinner Mason alone with all of the wreckage he had ever created. There wasn't any possibility of her staying with Spinner to be a support hotline he could call whenever he broke something again. She knew there was going to be a point when she was going to be broken. Craig had done it, so Spinner could do the same exact thing. They were teenage boys looking for a trophy girlfriend. When their attention spans wore off, they just broke their girlfriend and left them behind so they could go seek a new one.

The book of Spinner and Manny was closed tight and thrown carelessly onto a shelf. She went about her business while she didn't know anything about his business. All she knew was he was expelled. He was separated from all of the destruction he had and could possibly create ever again. She had her own life and own drama that she was knee deep in. Like Spinner, she had created some destruction. She had set off the chain of events that led to the oh so popular teaching assistant known as Mr. Oleander or Mr. Pedophile fired. She had broken Paige's leg and ego. Then there was the CD she had thrown at her door when she was having a screaming match with her brother one Tuesday night. She had the potential to break hearts of practically anyone she came in contact with. Deep down, she was just like Spinner. She was dumb, selfish, powerful, and could break anything.

There are times when she walks down the concrete sidewalks and stare into the window of the Dot. Spinner along with Jay are goofing around as their manager known as grim reaper is one step closer to firing them and sending them to dwell at the mall food court or arcade. Sometimes her hands are pressed against the glass as she watches Spinner go on with his life in the air conditioned diner while she stands outside in the summer heat. Her eyes just stare at him as she's lost in her own world of thoughts as she remembers the words of their story. She's afraid of falling into the glass or even worse, Jay discovering her pseudo-stalker tendencies and whispering them to Spinner. They would probably laugh about it or Spinner would ask, "Manny who? Dude, who are you talking about?"

Maybe it's better off this way. Maybe its better they silently closed the storybook and moved on with their lives in separate directions. She continues to stare at through the window as she snaps and pops her grape gum. He's serving a woman with spider web hair while Jay eats a candy bar and the manager screeches at him. Brown is the new blonde and Spinner is the new Craig. She snaps her gum one last time before tossing it onto the sidewalk despite the gross factor as she moves away from the glass window and her back grazes the brick wall. Maybe one day she'll open the door and talk to him instead of building up all of this mystery in her head. She whispers "maybe" to herself as the door creaks open.

"Hey…Manny," He greets her slowly. Her name is a virus on his tongue that he can't get rid of. It's there for eternity.

She weakly smiles, "Hi Spin."

Maybe just turned into today.


End file.
